CES 2023 is drawing to a close and leaving many announcements behind. But which ones can’t be missed? Here is our selection.
Here we are at the return of CES 2023, time to take stock. After almost 100 papers dedicated to the news of the fair, we have selected the 12 trends of the largest technology fair in the world.
While the products and demos shown at CES 2023 don’t always reflect the technology you’ll be able to buy in the near future, the show does offer a glimpse of where the tech giants are investing their time and resources.
Heavier, more powerful and better performing laptops
At CES 2023, Nvidia introduced its new GeForce RTX 40 for laptops. This announcement was accompanied by dozens of laptops from Dell Alienware, Acer, Asus, Razer, Lenovo, etc. What we will remember about these machines, which are obviously gaining in power, is that the frames have never been so wide and thin. We end up with a lot of laptops with an 18-inch diagonal screen, like those from Asus, Acer (Helios 18), or even Razer (Blade 18).
They are generally IPS screens in 240 Hz and QHD definition (1440p) with refined edges and display ratios of 16:10. As a result, the 15 and 17-inch formats are replaced by 16 and 18-inch models.
Folding PCs are still anecdotal
In 2022 we tested the Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED, a laptop whose screen folds. It was the first folding screen PC to be marketed by Asus and one of the first to market with competitor Lenovo. We could have said that laptops with folding screens will multiply on the market in 2023… This is still very anecdotal.
We’ve come across foldable screens designed for laptops, which means they’re getting more and more attention. However, laptop manufacturers have yet to follow suit en masse. If it’s not foldable, Lenovo has also introduced a laptop, the Yoga Book i9, equipped with two OLED screens with a highly visible hinge.
External PC monitors have never looked so good
If there is an area that has made its revolution, it is that of external screens for PCs. The monitors are now Mini LED, or OLED, with 240 Hz, and even 540 Hz (the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP).
Samsung has introduced two PC displays. The first is an extra-wide screen, 57 inches in 32:9 format, the other is an ultra-wide screen in QD-OLED. Both screens are cut out for gaming. LG has launched its 240Hz OLED screen, a first. In short, the year 2023 may allow you to modify your game settings.
The return of 3D without glasses
what could have been a trick it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. In fact, we came across several glasses-free 3D displays, the technology of the 2000s. We were surprised by two Asus laptops.
The result is absolutely stunning and allows you to feel even more involved in what you’re looking at and what you’re driving. It’s a unique experience that brings a new dimension to content creation. Even more so when you pick up the stylus and can move 3D objects a few inches from your eyes. You really feel like you can touch them.
The battle for OLED brightness
In the corridors of CES 2023 a pitched battle is being waged. That of LG and Samsung, a battle as old as the world between two Korean giants of new technologies. And, since the arrival of Samsung’s QD-OLED in 2022, LG and Samsung, and other TV makers like Panasonic, have been doing everything they can to have the brightest OLED screens. LG presented its Meta technology, we return to it in a dossier, while Panasonic promises great things with its MZ2000.
The promise of these screens is to reach a record peak brightness of 1,500 to 2,100 cd/m² (candelas per square meter), while the best screens of 2022 barely exceed 1,000 cd/m². The OLED, in fact, is becoming an increasingly credible competition against the qualities of the Mini LED.
Wireless and TVs
Manufacturers want to cut TV cables. We find two surprising products. The first is a concept born in the laboratory of an American startup, they equipped an OLED panel with batteries and removed all the connectors from the television. Everything is deported in a remote box.
LG introduced a different TV, a huge 97-inch 4K OLED (Meta) screen, which isn’t 100% wireless as it’s plugged into the mains. On the other hand, all data streams (video and audio) go through a Zero Connect box that is not connected by any cable to the television. LG introduces the OLED M as the ” World’s first wireless OLED TV ».
The Mini LED is installed
After timid forays, such as the iPad Pro 12.3, the MacBook Pro 14 and 16… the Mini LED reaches the PC world in a massive way. We were able to find them on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and the Razer Blade 16, we also found them on external displays.
As a reminder, Mini LED is an LED display technology, where the back panel is lined with many LEDs. This not only allows for an incredible level of contrast, but also greatly reduces blooming, that luminous halo that overwhelms the brightest areas. This makes it, therefore, a very interesting alternative to OLEDs. We also got to see the latest Samsung Neo QLED, it’s impressive.
8K resists
The 8K is unpopular in Europe, these screens consume too much and the European Union wants to limit the abuse. This does not prevent this technology from continuing to evolve, CES 2023 was also the opportunity to launch two 8K video projectors. One at Hisense, the other at Samsung.
They are more precisely ultra-short throw 8K Ultra HD laser projectors. At Samsung, it’s called The Premiere, with a 150-inch image. At Hisense, it’s the Laser TV 8K 120LX, capable of displaying a 120-inch image. Note that this is not native 8K, rather the image is sourced from a 4K matrix by pixel extrapolation. It is also very expensive, count 28,000 euros for the Hisense.
In 8K TVs, the Asian and American markets continue to show interest. The challenge for manufacturers is to be able to deliver the same viewing performance, while limiting the consumption of these huge TVs.
In-car infotainment is getting modernized
It did not go unnoticed. The new version of Android Auto was eagerly awaited, and for many months. Google had partially presented the redesign of its infotainment system at Google I / O in May 2022. CES 2023 allowed us to discover this new interface that adapts to the different sizes and screen formats of cars, electric or not. The other great novelty is the possibility to customize the screen compartmentalizing it into different parts. Thus, it is possible to use Spotify or YouTube Music while following the Google Maps navigation, for example, as can be seen in the presentation video.
BMW, for its part, has formalized the arrival of the iDrive 9 system. And the first vehicle to benefit from this will not be one of the manufacturer’s flagship models like the new BMW i7, but the “small” X1 SUV.
The BMW 5 Series or 7 Series, and most other BMW models, have systems based on Linux, while the new X1, and the future X2 and the future Mini have systems based on Android Automotive as expected for several months.
Batteries are everywhere
No doubt Chinese battery manufacturers are taking advantage of this to sell power stations. These products offer a solution to various situations: for nomads, it is a transportable energy source capable of being recharged by solar panels, at home, it can also make it possible not to depend 100% on the external network. To save money, for example.
Finally, there’s no telling when the world will descend into chaos, especially with the Doomsday Clock passing 100 seconds past midnight. But, on a less dramatic note, storms and power crises can lead to power outages.
These products stood out especially, with the risk of power outages in France, the recent winter storm in North America, and especially in the context of the war in Ukraine.
At CES 2023, we saw a lot! Including the latest EcoFlow products that now have features. EcoFlow boasts of having created the world’s first robotic lawnmower. We didn’t really understand the subtleties of the terms chosen in the press release, because robotic lawnmowers already exist. The EcoFlow Glacier is a portable refrigerator equipped with a built-in ice maker. Produces 18 small ice cubes in just 12 minutes and can run up to 24 hours (297 Wh) on a single charge to keep food cool. EcoFlow is also launching the second generation of its portable air conditioner, now reversible (so it can also heat).
The PlayStation car is coming!
It’s not exactly the PlayStation car, but the Afeela is the car that was born from the collaboration between Sony and Honda. This prototype will indeed be marketed in 2025, we were able to see it very closely.
MagSafe lands on Android
The announcement went a bit under the radar, but the Qi 2 was introduced. This global wireless charging standard will adopt Apple’s MagSafe technology.
MagSafe is a spiritual evolution of the Qi charging found in many devices. Apple has added a circular magnet to its phone. The latter serves as a support, but also to align the induction coils more precisely. This increases charging power to 15W versus 7.5W on Qi.
matter breaks through
Matter officially launched last year. There’s still a lot we don’t know about Matter, and we won’t until we have Matter-enabled products in our homes and updated apps and ecosystems. This is exactly what is happening now.
Technically, Matter is a smart home interoperability protocol. In other words: it is a common language to help objects communicate with each other. Not a completely new protocol, Matter is more of an application layer on top of the existing Wi-Fi and Thread protocols. The advantage is that it is open source, so it has been adopted by almost everyone.
At CES 2023, we saw a lot of Matte products. Nanoleaf, for example, released compatible switches. Samsung has introduced a SmartThings Matter hub in the form of a wireless charger. In short, don’t expect to spend your entire house on Matter. The implementation of this standard will take time and will not be as simple as expected.
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